Carla Saulter has been living without a car—and using public transit as her primary form of transportation—since March of 2003. Though she gave up driving because of concerns about the detrimental effects of car culture (pollution, traffic, sprawl), the decision has profoundly and positively changed her life. Some of these positive changes include: enforced exercise, time to read, reduced expenses, and contact with her community on a level that would never have been possible in the isolated bubble of a single-occupancy vehicle.

A different kind of bus pass

This morning, Busnerd called me at 6:45. He was on his way to Shilshole Marina (27+17+46) for a sailing adventure with his coworkers and wanted to bring his video camera. Unfortunately, he had left the camera at my place after our trip to the mountain a couple of weeks ago, and there wasn’t time for him to pick it up before he had to catch the 27.

Lucky for us, the 27 stops in front of my house, a few blocks west of Busnerd’s stop. He called me when he got on, and I grabbed the camera and headed outside. When the bus got to my stop, he was waiting at the front, at the seat closest to the door. He leaned out, and I made a successful handoff (must have been that season I ran track in 7th grade).

OK, so it wasn’t quite as involved as the bus luh episode when the driver’s S.O. brought him dinner, but we should get extra points for creativity. And for not kissing.